JPH0542891Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a gasoline tank device for a vehicle, and more specifically, to a fuel tank in which a connecting hose consisting of an outer hose and an inner hose is employed in the fuel injection system.

(Prior Art) A fuel tank of an automobile is usually firmly attached to a frame in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and is connected to a fuel inlet opening in a fender or the like on the side of the vehicle body through a pipe, a hose, or the like. This pipe is usually a steel pipe or the like, and is either integrated into the fuel tank or forms a filler pipe at the fuel inlet. Generally, rubber hoses are used to connect these pipes to each other, and the ends of the hoses are fitted onto the pipes and fixed with hose clips or the like.

When connecting the fuel inlet and the fuel tank with a rubber hose in this way, a relatively hard rubber hose is usually used. As a result, if the relative positions of the fuel tank and the fuel inlet become misaligned, the rubber hose will not be able to follow the deformation, and the hose will come off the attachment portion, causing fuel to leak. In addition, when connecting the rubber hoses mentioned above, if there is an error in the assembly position between the fuel tank attached to the vehicle body and the fuel inlet, it is difficult to absorb this error with a hard hose, and it is difficult to absorb this error with a hard hose. However, it takes a lot of effort and time to fit into a narrow space and assemble the rubber hose.

In order to overcome these difficulties, bellows-shaped hoses that are easily deformable have been adopted. However, the injected fuel flows unevenly at the bellows portion, resulting in bubbling or backflow. As a result, fuel overflow occurs at the fuel injection port due to fuel blowback, and malfunctions such as the fuel gun used for injecting fuel automatically stopping before the tank is full are unavoidable.

Therefore, as an example of a bellows-shaped hose that can compensate for its disadvantages, there is an automobile fuel oiling hose described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 54-5933. In this method, a hard rubber hose is inserted as an inner hose inside a bellows-like hose, one end of which is overlapped with the other end of the bellows-like hose, and the other end of the bellows-like hose is fitted and secured to one pipe. The other end of the inner hose is inserted into and removed from the other pipe to which it is fitted and fixed. This is because the inner hose can be displaced with respect to the other pipe, so even if the relative positional relationship between the fuel tank and the fuel inlet changes, the inner hose can be moved in the insertion/extraction direction with respect to the pipe at the same time as the bellows-shaped hose deforms. This reduces the risk of damage to individual hoses and fuel tanks. Furthermore, even if the inner hose comes off the pipe, the bellows-like hose prevents fuel from leaking. Furthermore, when fuel is injected, the inner hose smoothes the path that guides the fuel to the fuel tank pipe, so bubbles caused by the bellows are suppressed and smooth injection is possible.

However, in a normal state where the other end of the inner hose is inserted into the pipe, the degree of freedom of the hose is only in the insertion/removal direction, and even though the bellows-like hose is adopted, its advantages cannot be fully demonstrated. From this point of view, there is a vehicle fuel inlet hose device described in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 59-99825, which allows a bellows-like hose to exhibit flexibility in all directions. This is done by making one end of the inner hose in the bellows-like hose shorter than the bellows-like hose, and at that point, facing the end of the inner hose so as to face the end surface of the pipe to which the bellows-like hose is fitted and fixed. The pipe and the inner hose are arranged so that they are in contact with or close to each other. According to this, there is no fitting relationship between the inner hose and the pipe as in the above example, and axial displacement and bending deformation in all directions of the inner hose are allowed at that point, and when the bellows-shaped hose is deformed, The inner hose can also move accordingly.
In this way, the hose that connects the fuel tank and fuel inlet has the advantage of being able to connect while being able to absorb displacement in all directions and assembly errors of attached items, but the durability of the hose is limited. It includes the following problems:

As mentioned above, the fuel tank is firmly attached to the frame of the vehicle body, but the fuel inlet is attached to the fender such as the outer panel, so the vibrations that occur during driving are transmitted to the pipe between the fuel tank pipe side and the fuel inlet side. It differs between Normally, the vibration on the fender side is greater, which causes the pipe on the fuel inlet side to move more violently than the pipe on the fuel tank side. In the above-mentioned example, the bellows-shaped hose is fixed to both pipes, but the inner hose is fixed to only one pipe and is in a long cantilever state. As a result, the movements of the bellows-shaped hose and the inner hose differ depending on the movements of the pipes to which they are fixed. Therefore, the inner hose located inside the bellows-like hose frequently contacts or applies impact to the inner surface of the bellows-like hose at the point where it touches or is close to the pipe, and the friction etc. The bellows hose is damaged. In particular, since the bellows-like hose is thinner and softer than the inner hose, and has a complicated and variable shape, its wear and tear is more severe than that of the inner hose. As a result, such hose devices do not sufficiently solve the most important and fundamental problem in the fuel supply system, as fuel leaks easily from the bellows-like hose.
It is highly desirable to try to resolve this issue.

(Purpose of the invention) The present invention was devised in view of the above-mentioned problems. First, the purpose is to provide flexibility in all directions to the hose that contacts the fuel tank and the fuel inlet.
It makes it possible to follow deformation in any direction, avoids fuel leakage from the bellows-shaped hose, and also smoothes the connection work with the hose while absorbing assembly errors of each part. The goal is to improve productivity. In addition, when injecting fuel, it is possible to prevent fuel overflow due to bubbling, etc., and the degree of wear and tear on the bellows-shaped hose caused by vibration is significantly reduced, further improving the durability and reliability of the fuel injection system. An object of the present invention is to provide a high quality gasoline tank device for a vehicle.

(Structure of the invention) In order to achieve the above object, the solution of the invention is such that the fuel tank side pipe leading to the fuel tank and the fuel inlet side pipe leading to the fuel inlet provided in the vehicle body are connected to the outer hose. The present invention is based on a gasoline tank device for a vehicle that is liquid-tightly connected by a connecting hose consisting of an inner hose and an inner hose. A portion of the outer hose located between the fuel tank side pipe and the fuel inlet side pipe is formed into a bellows portion that is stretchable and flexible. The inner hose is divided into two parts in the longitudinal direction, and opposing ends of the two parts are removably fitted into each other. Both ends of the divided inner hose, together with both ends of the outer hose arranged to cover the inner hose, are externally fitted and fixed to the fuel tank side pipe and fuel inlet side pipe. shall be taken as a thing.

(Function) As a result, in the present invention, the inner hose can not only be displaced in the insertion/removal direction, but also can be bent and deformed at the divided opposing ends of the inner hose. In other words, even if a strain occurs in the fuel injection system and the fuel tank side pipe and fuel inlet side pipe are displaced relative to each other, not only the bellows-shaped outer hose will follow and deform, but also the inner hose will split. They can be inserted into and removed from each other or bent at opposite ends. This is because even though the inner hose is a hard rubber hose, it has some flexibility and is fitted at the opposite ends of the split without restricting each other too much. Deformation is well tolerated. From this, it follows that no matter what direction the pipe or the like is deformed, the connecting hose can be deformed accordingly. If the two pipes are far apart from each other, the divided inner hoses will separate from each other at the opposing ends, allowing the connecting hose to stretch considerably, while the flexibly deformable outer hose will prevent fuel from leaking. In addition to this case, even if there is an assembly error in installing the fuel tank or installing the fuel inlet, it can be handled in the same way if it is necessary to absorb it due to the deformation of the connecting hose. .

On the other hand, when injecting fuel, the inner hose guides the flow of fuel from the fuel inlet side pipe to the fuel tank side pipe, so the fuel is not foamed or blown back by the bellows part of the outer hose. This prevents the fuel gun from automatically stopping in an undesired injection state, and maintains smooth fuel supply.

In addition, even if the fuel tank side pipe and the fuel inlet side pipe exhibit relatively different behavior due to vibrations of the vehicle body, the vibrations are absorbed at the divided opposing ends of the inner hose. At that time, even if one inner hose that vibrates strongly rubs against the other inner hose, it is the inner hose that will wear out, and the inner hose will not come into contact with the bellows-shaped outer hose, and the outer hose will wear out due to the vibration. Never. Therefore, under normal conditions, a decrease in the durability of the connecting hose due to vibrations of the vehicle body can be avoided.

(Examples) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on examples thereof. FIG. 2 is an overall external view of the vehicle gasoline tank device of the present invention, in which a fuel tank 1 is provided with a fuel tank 1 on the side upper edge of which constitutes a fuel injection system 2 into which fuel such as gasoline is introduced. A pipe 3 is provided protrudingly, and a breather pipe 4 is provided on the side of the pipe 3 to allow breathing inside the tank.
At the top of the fuel tank 1, there are a main pipe 5 for supplying fuel to the engine, a return pipe 6 for returning excess fuel, a recovery pipe 7 for recovering evaporated fuel, etc. are attached, and hoses 4a, 5a, etc. for coupling to desired locations are connected to each of them. Although not shown, the fuel tank 1 is firmly attached to a frame provided in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body.

Connecting hoses 8 are connected to the above-mentioned fuel tank pipe 3, and in this example, two of them are attached with an intermediate pipe 9 in between, and finally connected to a fuel inlet pipe 10. The fuel inlet pipe 10 is fixed to the vehicle body via a disk-shaped mounting seat 11, and is installed in a fuel inlet 1 on a fender outer panel (not shown) or the like.
2 is opened and is closed with a cap 13. As can be seen from this example, in one fuel injection system 2 that connects the fuel tank 1 and the fuel injection port 12, the connecting hose 8 is not limited to one location, but may be installed at two or more locations in some cases. Therefore, in the following, when viewed from the connecting hose 8, the pipes leading to the fuel tank 1 side will be referred to as the fuel tank side pipe 2A, and the pipe leading to the fuel inlet 12 will be referred to as the fuel inlet side pipe 2B (see Fig. 3). Reference) Let me explain. Therefore,
The intermediate pipe 9 is a fuel inlet side pipe when viewed from the connecting hose 8M, and
When viewed from N, this is the fuel tank side pipe.

FIG. 3 is an external view of the connecting hose 8N, and its interior is as shown in FIG. 1. That is, the fuel tank side pipe 2A and the fuel inlet side pipe 2B are connected to the outer hose 15.
and an inner hose 16. The fitting connection portion is tightened with hose clips 17 and 18 shown in FIG. 3, and is fixed in a fluid-tight manner to prevent fuel from leaking from the connecting hose 8 fitted to both pipes 2A and 2B. .

Inner hose 16 that constitutes the connection hose 8
is a hard rubber hose, for example, and the outer hose 15 is a bellows-shaped hose that is stretchable and flexible at a portion located between the fuel tank side pipe 2A and the fuel inlet side pipe 2B. It is. And inner hose 1
6 is in a state of being divided into two in the longitudinal direction, and the dividing position is approximately at the center of the inner hose 16 in the illustrated example. The two divided inner hoses 16A and 16B are fitted at their opposing ends 19 so that they can be inserted into and removed from each other, and normally the inner hose 1
6B is inserted into the inner hose 16A. Both ends 1 of this divided inner hose 16
6a and 16b are externally fitted to the fuel tank side and fuel inlet side pipes 2A and 2B, respectively, together with both ends of the outer hose 15 arranged to cover the inner hose 16, and are connected to the hose clips 17 and 18 described above. Tightening screw 20 (third
(see figure) to securely attach it.

According to the embodiment with such a configuration, the inner hose 16 can be bent and deformed as well as displaced in the insertion/removal direction at the opposing ends 19 of the inner hoses 16A and 16B. That is, even if the fuel injection system 2 is strained and the fuel tank side pipe 2A and the fuel tank side pipe 2B are displaced relative to each other, the bellows-shaped outer hose 15 will of course deform accordingly. The inner hose 16 can be inserted or removed or bent at the divided opposing ends 19. This is because although the inner hose 16 is a hard rubber hose, it has some flexibility and is fitted at the divided opposing ends 19 without being constrained by each other. The deformation is well tolerated. From the above, pipe 2A,
No matter in which direction deformation such as 2B occurs, the connecting hose 16 can be deformed accordingly. Note that if the distance between the two pipes 2A and 2B is large, the inner hoses 16A and 16 at the opposite ends 19
The separation of B allows large elongation of the connecting hose 8, while the flexibly deformable outer hose 15 prevents fuel from leaking. In addition to this case, even if an assembly error occurs in the installation of the fuel tank 1 or the installation of the fuel inlet 12, similar measures should be taken in cases where it is necessary to absorb the error due to deformation of the connecting hose 8. Can be done.

On the other hand, when injecting fuel, the inner hose 16 connects the fuel inlet side pipe 2B.
Since the flow of fuel from the fuel tank side pipe 2A is guided, the fuel flows through the outer hose 1.
There is no foaming or blowing back due to the bellows part 5, which prevents the fuel gun from automatically stopping in an undesired injection state, and maintains a smooth fuel supply. be done. Not only that, even if the fuel tank side pipe 2A and the fuel inlet side pipe 2B exhibit relatively different behavior due to vibrations of the vehicle body, the vibrations are absorbed by the opposing ends 19 of the inner hoses 16A and 16B. Ru. At that time, even if one inner hose with strong vibrations rubs against the other inner hose, it is the inner hose 16 that will be worn out, and the inner hose 16 will not come into contact with the bellows-shaped outer hose 15, and the outer hose 15 will wear out. No wear and tear due to vibration. Therefore, under normal conditions, a decrease in the durability of the connecting hose 8 due to vibrations of the vehicle body can be avoided.

Incidentally, in this example, the inner hose 16 fixed to the fuel inlet side pipe 2B is inserted into the inner hose 16A fixed to the fuel tank side pipe 2A. Therefore, the inner hose 16B, which tends to generate large vibrations, is replaced by the inner hose 16A, which has small vibrations.
will be restrained from the outside. Therefore, there is an advantage that the movement of the inner hose 16B is further suppressed and the safety of the outer hose 15 is further improved.

(Effects of the invention) As can be seen from the above explanation, the invention consists of a connecting hose that connects the fuel tank side pipe and the fuel inlet side pipe, consisting of an outer hose and an inner hose, and this inner hose is divided into two. The opposing ends are removably fitted,
Both ends of the hose, along with a flexible bellows-shaped outer hose, were fitted externally to both pipes and fixed, so that the connection hose connecting the fuel tank and fuel inlet had flexibility in all directions. It can be given gender. As a result, deformation can be followed, and fuel leakage can be avoided without causing damage to the hose. If there is an error in the installation of each component, the hose assembly work can proceed smoothly while absorbing the error, contributing to an improvement in productivity. In addition, when injecting fuel, it prevents fuel from overflowing at the fuel inlet due to bubbling, etc., and also prevents the bellows-shaped hose from being worn out due to the behavior of the inner hose caused by vibrations of the vehicle body. The durability and reliability of the system can be significantly improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the main parts of the gasoline tank device for a vehicle according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an overall perspective view of the tank device to which the present invention is applied, and Fig. 3 is an external appearance seen from below at the connecting hose installation position. It is a diagram. 1...Fuel tank, 2A...Fuel tank side pipe, 2B...Fuel inlet side pipe, 8, 8M, 8N...Connection hose, 12...Fuel inlet, 15...Outer hose, 16, 16
A, 16B... Inner hose, 16a, 16b...
...both ends, 19...opposite end.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] The fuel tank side pipe leading to the fuel tank and the fuel inlet side pipe leading to the fuel inlet provided on the vehicle body are fluid-tightly connected by a connecting hose consisting of an outer hose and an inner hose. In the gasoline tank device for a vehicle, a portion of the outer hose located between the fuel tank side pipe and the fuel inlet side pipe is formed into a bellows portion that is expandable and flexible. The inner hose is divided into two parts in the longitudinal direction, and the opposite ends of the divided parts are fitted into each other so as to be freely inserted and removed, and both ends of the divided inner hose are arranged so as to cover the inner hose. A gasoline tank device for a vehicle, wherein both ends of the outer hose are externally fitted and fixed to the fuel tank side pipe and the fuel inlet side pipe.